The last couple weeks have brought us ideally mild winter pea shoot growing conditions in the unheated greenhouse and the greens are doing very well! Creating beautiful green peashooty goodness fills much of my day these days....
Look at these healthy, juicy stems happily standing tall in their grow tray!
It seems everyone's craving some freshly harvested and locally grown spring green fare at this time of year so I have lots of pea shoot grow trays on the go right now.
Lots of cutting and bagging....and still looking for a good solution to all those plastic bags.....
A new batch on their way to Happy Tides Health Foods this morning. If you're on Mayne Island and you're not growing your own pea shoots, it looks like there's going to be a good supply at Happy Tides this week and next week too so head on over and get 'em while you can!
Two trays after they've been harvested. I'm often asked by folks who are interested in growing pea shoots what I do with the used soil after I've cut the shoots. Below is a photo of one of my grow tray compost piles. I have a few of them around the garden, in spots where I want to develop a new growing bed. The soil becomes a thick mass of pea roots. Because the pea seed will continue producing shoots, new pea shoots grow up in the pile. Since I'm doing production growing, I need to keep it as simple and efficient as possible by just using the first cutting. I think of the second growth that happens in the pile as a nitrogen rich green manure crop that kind of creates that closed circle idea, in it's own unique pea shoot growing kind of way. These new growing areas are going to be beautiful, rich mounds of soil next year.
When you're growing smaller amounts for home use, the used soil is great to put on any home compost pile. It's probably a good idea to break up the mass of roots a bit to help it compost faster. You can also wait for the second growth and harvest it too before you compost the roots.
A fun thing I like to do at home from time to time, is grow the shoots in decorative pots and use them as table centerpieces....especially in the winter time! Beautiful, inspiring decor (especially for a gardener) and you can eat it too : )
The last couple weeks have brought us ideally mild winter pea shoot growing conditions in the unheated greenhouse and the greens are doing very well! Creating beautiful green peashooty goodness fills much of my day these days....
Look at these healthy, juicy stems happily standing tall in their grow tray! 
It seems everyone's craving some freshly harvested and locally grown spring green fare at this time of year so I have lots of pea shoot grow trays on the go right now.
Lots of cutting and bagging....and still looking for a good solution to all those plastic bags.....
A new batch on their way to Happy Tides Health Foods this morning. If you're on Mayne Island and you're not growing your own pea shoots, it looks like there's going to be a good supply at Happy Tides this week and next week too so head on over and get 'em while you can! 
Two trays after they've been harvested. I'm often asked by folks who are interested in growing pea shoots what I do with the used soil after I've cut the shoots. Below is a photo of one of my grow tray compost piles. I have a few of them around the garden, in spots where I want to develop a new growing bed. The soil becomes a thick mass of pea roots. Because the pea seed will continue producing shoots, new pea shoots grow up in the pile. Since I'm doing production growing, I need to keep it as simple and efficient as possible by just using the first cutting. I think of the second growth that happens in the pile as a nitrogen rich green manure crop that kind of creates that closed circle idea, in it's own unique pea shoot growing kind of way. These new growing areas are going to be beautiful, rich mounds of soil next year.
When you're growing smaller amounts for home use, the used soil is great to put on any home compost pile. It's probably a good idea to break up the mass of roots a bit to help it compost faster. You can also wait for the second growth and harvest it too before you compost the roots.
those look so good christina.. im going to have to find somewhere to put a pot... somewhere little hands cant reach!!! our place is so low on natural light though so im not sure they would grow that well! i may have to stick to sprouts. Have you thought of cloth bags... might get a bit costly though... or do bulk so people have to bring back their own bag... hmm it is a difficult one... trying to cut back on all that packaging!
ReplyDeletegoodluck
kelsey
Hi Kelsey, try them, they don't need much light, really and the little hands will enjoy harvesting them : ) (kids seem to love eating them too)
ReplyDeleteI use cloth bags for my weekly basket delivery but in stores, it's more of a challenge...we'll work on it...eventually it'll have to become the norm.
I hope you can drop in for a visit this spring/summer! good wishes!